


Izumi's First Teacher

by Piandaoist (piandaoist)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Comedy, Gen, Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:47:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27313585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/piandaoist/pseuds/Piandaoist
Summary: Running the Fire Nation was hard but finding Princess Izumi’s first teacher was even harder. #atla15 prompt | Fire
Comments: 4
Kudos: 37
Collections: #atla15 -- Avatar the Last Airbender 15th Anniversary Prompt Challenge, Piandaoist's Comfort Fic, Piandaoist's Short Stories Collection, The Piandao Library





	Izumi's First Teacher

**Author's Note:**

> [Prompt Challenge](https://atlafans.tumblr.com/post/190938611989/caelum-in-the-avatarverse-february-21-2020): [#atla15](https://www.tumblr.com/search/atla15) | Fire [@atlafans](https://tmblr.co/mnuJxs3q96ZkLxemOzj5bqQ)

The interviews to vet a firebending teacher for Izumi went something like this…

Azula entered the room with her usual flair, forcefully pushing past The Help as she approached Princess Izumi’s bassinette. “Move, Losers!”

She glared at the plump little germ factory. “You’re... _adequate_.” Izumi made a gurgling sound when Azula held her out as if holding her close would give her cooties. “Everything seems to be in good working order. You have all your fingers and toes. It’s a start.

They watched, amused, as Azula entered into an intense staring contest with a newborn. “But Zuko’s your father. You were born into the world three steps behind everyone else.” She paused so Zuko could groan and Mai could respond with “Whatever” before continuing. “We’ll have to do a lot of work just to catch you up.”

“Blue fire,” Azula said as flames erupted from her fingertips, spreading out and climbing all the way to the ceiling. “Precise, powerful, deadly. Superior firepower! I’ll teach you to master it and, together, WE’LL RULE THE ENTIRE--”

“Azula!” Zuko bellowed.

Azula’s flames died along with her enthusiasm and her smile turned into a scowl. “What, Zuzu, what? Can’t you see I’m working here?”

Zuko rose slowly to his feet as he tried to reign in his temper and then he pointed an accusing finger at her. “Bad Azula. Stand. Down.”

“Fine,” she huffed. “I guess I’ll just be the fun aunt that Izumi runs to when you give her Daddy Issues. Don’t worry, Zuzu. My enemies will be her enemies.”

“Excuse me?” Zuko yelled.

“Oh, my bad!” Azula said behind a chuckle. “I meant to say, her enemies will be my enemies.”

“That's not better," he quipped. "Just...try to behave yourself. Please?”

“Azula grinned. “I can’t make any promises.”

The next day, Jeong Jeong emerged from Parts Unknown. How did he even know they were looking for a teacher? He scanned the room, stopping long enough at each person to glare _menacingly_ at them before moving onto his next victim.

Mai sighed. “Maybe we should have given the job to Azula.”

Jeong Jeong was one of Uncle’s friends so Zuko was willing to give him a chance. But he had the ability to make five minutes feel like an hour.

Jeong Jeong stared quietly at the sleeping newborn for what felt like an eternity before pinning Zuko under his fiery gaze. “She is a firebender of remarkable ability,” he declared.

Zuko let out a sigh of relief. “That’s great!”

“No!” Jeong Jeong screamed and Izumi screamed back. “Do not rejoice! Do you have any idea what this means?”

“It means you woke up my baby,” Mai complained. “So you’re probably not the best person to work with babies?”

“No!” Jeong Jeong fussed. “Fire is destruction! She will forever be burdened with its care! Her sanity will hang in the balance as--” Jeong Jeong fell silent when Mai stood.

Mai pointed to the door. “Not interested!”

At that moment, as they watched Jeong Jeong’s nostrils flair, they thought he might spontaneously combust. His whole body shook with rage. “Not interested in the destruction of your own child?”

“If you don’t get away from my baby, I’m gonna start throwing knives at your head.”

Three minutes later, Jeong Jeong’s Fanboy, Chey, showed up. “I guess Jeong Jeong didn’t’ work out, huh?” They nodded. “Oh, that’s okay. I’m a decent firebender and I love kids.”

Mai motioned for him to keep going (before she changed her mind). “I’d start with the basics. You know? Gotta master those basics. They are critical.”

Zuko smiled. Chey’s words reminded him of Iroh. “Then,” Chey continued, “We’d move on to working with blasting jelly--”

“What?” Zuko shrieked. “Why would we want you to teach our child how to use explosives?”

“Being able to blow up things is a useful job skill, Firelord.”

“For a terrorist!” Zuko ranted.

“Or for a structural engineer,” Chey finished. “You know how smart those people are? Super smart? They blow things up with amazing precision.”

Mai sighed. “She could go to school to become a structural engineer, not learn how to blow things up when she’s a baby.”

Chey slumped. “I mean, I guess? But that doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun.”

“Leave!” Zuko roared.

“Come back in fifteen years,” Mai said. “Then we’ll talk.”

A few days later, the vaunted General Mu Guiying arrived bearing gifts for the princess. She arrived in the company of Madam Zhang, a crazy old noblewoman who was so hated by Zuko’s grandfather, he once named a delicious drink after her then he banned anyone from ever consuming it.

Zuko was nervous. “You two came together?” It was no secret these two women didn’t always get along.

“No,” Guiying grumbled. “I came to see the princess and give her my best.”

“I was hungry so I came to see the baby,” Zhang blurted out.

Zuko balked. “Why would you say it like that?”

“What? I thought there’d be free food, okay?”

“Will you be quiet?” Guiying squawked before continuing. “When I arrived, Zhang was outside the palace gate urinating so she’s under arrest.”

“And I never got to finish,” Zhang huffed. “Is there somewhere I can go for Number Two?”

“Will you get her out of here, General Guiying?”

“Yes, then, when I return, Firelord, I will begin training the princess. We’ll start with heat-seeking. She’ll be able to see her targets in the dark by tracking their body heat but they won’t be able to see her. I’ve used this technique to find and apprehend dangerous criminals in hard-to-see situations.”

Zuko sighed. “Let’s not refer to people as targets.”

Guiying continued, ignoring Zuko’s order because it was more of a request, anyway. “Once she masters that, we’ll move on to blood-boiling...”

Mai raised a quiet hand, silencing the General. “We’ll hold off on that murder training for now.”

“Good idea,” Zhang said. “Why not teach the baby some nice firebending tricks? It’s not all war and death, you know?”

Zuko was skeptical but curious. “What sort of tricks?”

The old woman shrugged and General Guiying made that grunting sound she makes whenever someone’s about to say something stupid. That was the first sign he should have shut the whole conversation down.

“I could teach her how to shoot fire out of her butt.”

Zuko’s expression was pinched as he tried to process the mental image of his baby shooting fire out of her butt while Mai remained stoic and unimpressed. But, deep down, Zuko knew Mai was grabbing for a throwing star.

“Why….would you do that?”

“I don’t know… It looks cool? Freaks people out. Smells like burning shit. It’s a great trick at parties,” she finished, offering Zuko a toothy grin.

“Those are terrible reasons,” Zuko fumed. “Both of you, get out! Now!”

When his former crewmate Lieutenant Jee showed up, Zuko was ecstatic. Finally, someone normal! But he’d never admit it out loud because Jee would never let him hear the end of it.

Mai was also ecstatic so she sighed at a higher pitch than was customary. Jee was common stock, and Mai’s mother didn’t think it appropriate to have commoners around “Her granddaughter”. Mai would probably hire this guy on principle.

Jee started laughing and Zuko remembered why this guy was so annoying. And then he just kept laughing.

“What is he doing?” Mai asked.

Zuko grumbled, “He’s laughing at a stupid joke he hasn’t even told yet.”

Jee, between belly-laughs, sputtered. “Heh... Seeing the princess has given me some inspiration. This… This is a good joke. Where’s General Iroh? He’s gonna love this one!”

“He’s not here,” Zuko said. “Will you just tell your stupid joke already?”

Jee was able to stop laughing long enough to begin.

…

“A baby crawls into a bar--”

“DO NOT FINISH THAT JOKE!” Zuko yelled.

“What? You don’t want to hear the punchline?”

“No!” they both answered.

Jee looked down at the tiny princess. “Izumi, I hope you have a better sense of humor than your father. You have no idea how depressing it is to serve with a guy for three years who doesn’t laugh at your jokes. He’s the reason Uncle Jee drinks.”

“Get. Out,” Zuko hissed.

Zuko slumped in his chair and sighed. “Why are firebenders so weird?”

Mai sniggered, pointing at Zuko. “Yeah, why, Zuko?”

Two weeks later, Iroh came for a visit and Zuko couldn’t have been happier. It was the answer to all of his problems.

“Yes,” Iroh said in a rather serious tone, offering Zuko a sagely nod. “I will train Izumi.” Then he turned as if he was getting ready to leave, offering his nephew a formal bowel. Then he turned back quickly, throwing out a thumbs-up. “I’ll train her to **PLAY**! C’mon, Izumi,” he said, scooping her up. “Let’s go outside and run around and be really loud!”

When Zuko arrived at Ursa’s garden, he found Iroh sitting by the turtle duck pond with Izumi laying on a blanket next to him staring up into the trees.

“Uncle… I need you to take this seriously.”

“Playtime is serious business, Zuko.”

“Uncle, please...”

“Look, Zuko… I could teach Izumi some fun firebending tricks. But I’m too old to teach every day. I just want to be a grandfather. Is...that okay?”

Zuko could see it in Iroh’s eyes that he was broken, tired from years of war, burnt out from training men.

Zuko sighed. “Yes, Uncle. That’s okay. But it doesn’t solve my problem.”

“There’s no problem, Zuko. She’s a baby. She’s too young to train.”

Zuko smiled. Iroh’s voice was as warm and pleasant as a spring day, and he always knew how to put Zuko’s mind at ease.

“Anyway… I’m thinking about coming home,” Iroh continued, causing Zuko’s smile to grow. “I missed out on a lot with Lu Ten, with you, even with Azula. I don’t want to keep missing out on the things that are important.”

“What about the Jasmine Dragon?”

“It was never technically my tea shop. The apartment, the tea shop, the equipment and furnishings, most of my clothes… They were owned by Quon. Of course, he wasn’t happy about letting me go. He tried to double-talk me over contracts and whatnot. Good thing Master Piandao was there to help me navigate the murky waters of business law.”

“I didn’t realize Master Piandao knew anything about business law.”

“He doesn’t. He does, however, have a lot of money, and he knows how to talk to people. He convinced Quon to sell him my contract. Technically, I work for Master Piandao now. He even paid extra so I could keep the rights to all my secret tea recipes. It’s a good thing Quon was reasonable. I saw Master Piandao practicing “What’s it gonna be Quon? Gold? Or Steel?” in front of the mirror. I thought it was going to be like the Omashu Affair all over again.”

“I thought the Omashu Affair was a hoax.”

“I can assure you,” came a voice from the hedgerow, “the Omashu Affair is very real and very classified,” Piandao said, gliding up behind Iroh.

Piandao snatched Izumi from Iroh. “Finally, Baby! Your favorite uncle is here.”

Zuko and Iroh started on as Piandao engaged in what he called “our secret language” which was really just Piandao making goofy sounds at a newborn and kissing her cheek.

“Baby? Did any of those _weirdos_ make the cut? Or are we still on the hunt for a firebending teacher for you?”

“We’re still on the hunt,” Zuko said following a long sigh

“It’s for the best,” Piandao said. “I mean… You probably shouldn’t be training a baby to fight.”

“I don’t want to train her to fight. I want her to develop proper breathing techniques so she can control her bending early. There’s less chance of accidents happening that way." He paused before continuing, gathering himself. "I burned my mother when I was four because I couldn’t control my fire.” They watched Zuko’s face tighten as he tried to move past the painful memory. “She has scars on her right leg. And now that I have this...” Zuko touched his own scar. His memories of how fire had hurt him were sharp, cutting right through him. “I know exactly what that feels like.”

Piandao spoke when it seemed like Iroh couldn’t figure out what to say.

“That’s why you need to train your daughter. No one has the unique understanding of fire that you have, Zuko. You’ve felt the damage fire can do, and the dragons have shown you fire’s true light.”

Zuko lowered his head, whispering, “But what if I make a mistake? Or what if she starts firebending when she’s still a baby and she burns Mai while she’s breastfeeding her? What if she starts breathing fire in her sleep and catches her crib on fire? What if--”

Piandao grabbed Zuko’s arm to stop him mid-panic.

“Step one: Princess Izumi sleeps with you, not in a crib in the next room. This has all sorts of advantages: security advantages because she’s right there with you if you need to flee. It’s more nurturing because it puts her closest to the people she loves and everyone gets a good night’s sleep which, judging by the bags under your eyes, you and Lady Mai aren’t getting much sleep. Lady Mai doesn’t have to get out of bed to breastfeed, ensuring comfort for both mother and child. Plus, there’s a better chance Princess Izumi will fall asleep faster. And by having Princess Izumi close, you’ll be able to control her firebending should she start breathing fire in her sleep. Besides, every morning when you wake up, this adorable little swordmaster will be staring you right in the face.”

“But Mai’s mother--”

“Don’t care, moving on,” Piandao said. “Step two: I can hear the Dragon’s Breath. I will train Lady Mai and the non-bending members of Princess Izumi’s staff on what to listen for so they can protect themselves.”

Zuko nodded.

“Step three: Never underestimate your child’s intelligence. She’ll learn things on her time and you’ll never truly be prepared for the first time she figures out how to create a flame or the first time she climbs out of her pen and starts crawling around the floor toward a door or a window. You think things are difficult now? Wait until she becomes mobile,” Piandao grins while Iroh chuckles softly in the background. “That’s when the real fun begins.”

“Step Four: find a teacher who’s techniques are rooted in play rather than combat. They don’t have to be a prodigy or even a master, they just have to understand how kids learn best. The experience is more positive when children are encouraged to express themselves creatively with firebending in a non-competitive environment.”

“You never had kids,” Zuko said. “How do you know so much about babies?”

“I grew up in an orphanage, Zuko. I was surrounded by babies. The older children were charged with their care. The Orphan Master didn’t like “criers” so we had to figure out how to keep them quiet. We cleaned them, fed them, sang to them… I’ve cared for dozens of babies.”

“Oh,” Zuko mumbled, turning his head toward the ground below. “I didn’t know…”

“Well, now you do. And I know one thing about babies: they need love, not training.”

“It’s true,” Iroh confirmed. “I regret that Lu Ten’s childhood was filled with constant studying and training from the time he could crawl. But, I didn’t know. Everyone said I should start him off with masters as soon as possible and there was all this pressure from Father, Mother, and everyone around me. But time was my enemy as it will be yours, My Nephew. You can never recapture the moment. I spent most of Lu Ten’s childhood on the front. I missed out on so much, including the opportunity to train him as much I wanted to. I missed important milestones: his first steps, his first words, his first flame… I don’t have those memories. They died with his mother. Firebending is just another way for you to spend time with Izumi. The sharing of fire between a parent and a child is its own reward.”

Zuko let out a dreamy sigh. “That sounds nice.”

There was a long pause while Zuko collected his thoughts. It would have never occurred to him to teach his own child.

Iroh put his hand on Zuko’s back, calming him. He could see the fear in Zuko’s face, the panic in his eyes, the anxiety building like an unstoppable snowball in the pit of Zuko’s stomach. It was the same kind of worry he saw in Zuko after he was banished, when Zhao had captured the Avatar, and when he had to make a choice between siding with Iroh or going home. And then he saw it again when he told Zuko he should be Firelord.

“Focus on the kind of person you want Izumi to be, not the kind of firebender you want her to be. The rest will fall into place.”

Iroh’s gentle gaze was the promise of protection. Zuko knew that Iroh would never let him stray and he would always listen to his uncle. He’d learned that hard way what happens when he rejected his wisdom in the past.

“Thanks, Uncle. I’ll try.”

“That’s all any of us can do, Zuko.”


End file.
